The Legal Liability Of Shipper In The Carriage Of Dangerous Goods By Sea

Recently, with the rapid development of chemical industry, the traffic of domestic dangerous goods increases year by year, among them the carriage of dangerous goods by sea is the largest. According to the statistics, in2008, dangerous goods into the port reached nearly480million tons, and a total of250million tons shipped from the port, accounting for20%of the water transport. With the growing in the volume of transport of dangerous goods, transport accidents are greatly increased. In view of this, special rules on dangerous goods occupy an important position in the maritime law.The carriage of dangerous goods accidents occur, which of course have a connection with the own risk and dangerous nature of the maritime transport, there are also some human factors. The shipper of dangerous goods often is the owner of the goods or has a close contact with the owner of the goods. The shipper has a favorable position in a effective way to avoid disaster, and he has been given a more special duties and responsibilities, which is also an important feature of maritime law. The liability of shipper in the carriage of dangerous goods by Sea has become a hot topic.The first chapter discusses the definition of dangerous goods or recognized standards, which is directly related to the shipper whether to assume special obligations or constraint of strict liability. The first chapter draws on the formulation of international conventions and domestic law on dangerous goods, introduces the technical rules or civil legislation of international conventions and national laws, and summarizes the recognized standards of dangerous goods.The second chapter discusses the obligations of the shipper of dangerous goods. This chapter compares the International legislations and national laws on shipper’s obligation, and it analyzes the shipper’s obligation to notify, including the subject, object, manner, time, content and the nature of notification obligations.The third chapter discusses the principle of liability of the shipper. It describes the theoretical basis and the evolution of responsibilities about the dangerous goods’ shipper, which explains reasons of the dangerous goods shipper’s strict liability and analyze specific circumstances of the shipper in violation of those obligations.The fourth chapter, by taking into account the specific behavior of the carrier in the carriage of dangerous goods by sea, analyzes t the circumstances under which the shipper don’t need bear or bear part of the losses caused by dangerous goods. If the carrier fails to fulfill legal obligations or has the knowledge of goods’ dangerous nature, he will bear the resulting loss.